


What Should Have Been

by idra



Series: 30 Days of Fic (June 2015) [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, No Hale Fire, Time Travel Fix-It, mentions of what could've happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4125156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idra/pseuds/idra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is offered the chance to go back in time and stop the event that changed his life forever.  He goes back to before the Hale House fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Should Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> Day 08. Yes, I'm way behind. I will absolutely catch up, but this one fought me, so I had to take the time to figure it out before I could go on.

Derek frowns as he looks at the figure in front of him. "Okay, repeat that."

"You wished to go back in time-- to stop the event that changed your life forever. Are. You. Sure?" The man tilts his head, eyes narrowed. "A word to the wise before you answer-- not everything is as it seems, but everything will change."

"I can have my family back?" Derek asks, his voice quivering. 

"If that is the event that changed your life forever."

Derek thinks about his life now. He's too old to remain a hanger-on with Scott's pack, but he's too young to go make his own family. He licks his lips and looks over at the stranger. "I'm sure. I want to go back. I want to save my family." He inhales deeply, blinking rapidly.

"As you wish," the stranger says with a bow.

Derek closes his eyes and when he opens them, he looks around his room. His room from when he was a teenager. He smiles and looks down at his clothes. He makes a face at the basketball jersey but shrugs and heads downstairs. "Mom! Mom!" He yells it louder and louder until he spots his mom and he throws himself at her. "Mom!" 

"Derek, honey, what's wrong?"

"I had the worst nightmare and it was so real... I have to tell you something. I've been dating someone."

"I know, son."

"No, Mom. I'm not talking about Paige."

"Oh. Who?"

Derek takes a deep breath. "Her name is Kate. Kate Argent. I didn't know when we started dating that she was a hunter, but... I'm going to break up with her, but I wanted you to know. I'm afraid she's going to try something. We need to be aware of what's going on. I think... Maybe I was just imagining it. But I think she's going to try to burn down our house."

"I'll let everyone know to keep an eye out and I'll go talk to Gerard and his wife."

Derek nods and hugs his mom again. "What's today?"

"Friday. No school, remember? It's a teacher conference or something."

"Cool. Can I go find Laura?"

"She's not home right now. She's out with Cora and Peter."

Derek nods, licking his lips. "Do you know where they are?"

"They said something about going to get breakfast, then shopping."

Derek wrinkles his nose and nods. "Maybe I could call them and they'll meet up with me for lunch."

"I'll call them." Talia pets his hair. "Go on. Go see your friends."

Derek smiles and hugs her again. "I love you Mom." Derek runs out of the house and starts jogging towards town. He stops when he nears Stiles' house and frowns a little. He can hear Stiles and Scott in the house and he sighs a little. It's better this way. Stiles and Scott don't have to worry about monsters and evil and they'll never have to meet Derek. He lifts his head suddenly, thinking about his pack-- _his_ pack-- and he starts running towards Isaac's. He hears the boy in the house, gasping for air and he starts up the steps, pausing when he realizes what he's doing. He pulls out his cell phone and calls his mom, leaving a message for her. "Mom, I need your help. This is going to sound crazy, but there's this kid... His dad beats him and I can't prove it and I don't think he'd actually say anything to anyone, but.... His name is Isaac Lahey. Do you think you could try to get him out?"

"Derek, if he hasn't asked for help..."

"I know Mom. But I can hear him and he's gasping for air and please! He's just a kid. He's like nine or ten. He doesn't deserve this." Derek thinks back to his normal time and shakes his head. He'd been seventeen when the fire happened. And since Isaac had been sixteen when they'd met-- at least Derek thinks he had been... Now he's not a hundred percent sure, but no one deserves the kind of life Isaac will have to live if the fire doesn't happen. Derek pauses for a moment and ducks his head. Erica and Boyd deserve better than the lives they've had too. Erica especially with the epilepsy. Maybe Derek can mention something to his mom at some point in the future. "Please Mom. Isaac's a good kid. He just needs someone to care for him."

"I'll see what I can do, Derek, but don't expect miracles."

"Thank you Mom. I really appreciate it." Derek gives her the address and heads off. He thinks back to Stiles, missing the younger man suddenly. Even though they haven't always (and still don't, he thinks to himself) get along, he likes Stiles. Stiles is funny and caring and handsome-- Derek stops that track before he can go anywhere else. Stiles had never looked at him that way and never will now. It's one of the many things Derek has sacrificed to save his family.

He continues on his way, finding his family easily. His sisters and uncle are shocked and a little confused when he throws himself at them, hugging them all tight. He doesn't explain-- though he knows later, he'll probably try to talk to Laura about it-- just lets them be confused as he hugs them. "I've missed you all so much. You don't even know."

"We just saw you last night, Derek," Peter says, rolling his eyes a little as Derek hugs him. 

"Shut up and let me hug you, Peter," Derek replies, smacking the back of Peter's head. He hugs Peter again, then turns and hugs Laura extra hard. He can remember so easily holding her dead body in his arms and it's still hurting him to think of it. He takes a deep breath, then pulls back. "Still shopping?"

"We were going to grab some lunch," Laura says, wrapping her hand around his arm. "C'mon. We'll go get food."

Derek nods and allows himself to be led towards the café they all like-- and Derek remembers with a pang that it had been forced to close down because of the Darach... because of him giving the darach power. He forces a smile and follows them into the café. 

A week later, Derek finds himself at the movie theater. He's still not forgetting his past-- or future-- and he just needed a moment to himself, especially since Laura had called him crazy and told him to get some sleep when he'd told her what had happened to him. He sighs and looks at the choices of movies. Nothing in particular he wants to see, but he couldn't stay at the house much longer.

He licks his lips and finally picks a movie, frowning as he settles in at the back of the theater and notices two rows ahead, Scott and Stiles, laughing and throwing popcorn at each other. He sinks lower into his seat before finally giving up and walking out. He can't deal with this. He's having a hard enough time with his family being here-- he doesn't need to see the rest of what he's missing out on. He heads for the park, walking around the outside before he finds himself at the playground where he sits on the swing and moves back and forth.

He looks up when he senses a presence nearby. "Can I help you?"

"You're the reason my sister is being locked up. She and my dad tried to kill my mom so they could take over. You _are_ Derek, right?"

Derek meets the other man's eyes. "Chris Argent. Yeah, I'm Derek. If you're here to kill me, my family with come after you."

"I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to thank you." Chris smiles a little crookedly. "You're going to think I sound insane, but I'm from the future. I was living in 2012 just a few days ago and then I'm waking up to a phone call from my dead father about my dead sister."

"Shit. You weren't supposed to be pulled into this."

"It's okay, Derek. I actually had that man or whatever he is come to me too and ask me if I wanted to fix anything in my life."

"You didn't say when Victoria died?"

"No. Because most of that wouldn't have happened if Kate hadn't killed your family. You gave me a second chance at life," Chris says. "So thank you. The Argents will stay out of Beacon Hills, so long as it never becomes a problem area."

Derek smiles a little. "I'm glad."

"Me too." Chris turns and starts to walk away. "Hey, Derek?"

"Yeah."

"It was nice knowing you kid. Take care of yourself."

"You too, Chris." Derek says softly. He waves as Chris walks off and then he pushes to his feet. His world has changed and he has to leave what was behind. Apparently, he's stopped his family from dying in a fire, so now he's just got to take what comes to him as it comes and hope that all the people he had in his future will somehow come to be part of his life in this new life. 

_the end_


End file.
